Bear Territory

Met Vetlife today to help select the winners of a photo competition she is running to help celebrate the first year of her veterinary practice in Stirling. Very generously the prizes include a digital camera, a tripod and pet store vouchers. It was a pleasure to help and good fun looking at the photos of pets and their people.

As is the way with summer in this part of Scotland this year, what was a reasonable day turned very wet in late afternoon which restricted blip photo opportunities. So......to the improvised blip photo ......a bear crawling over a US Dollar bank note.

The bears are still marching over the financial markets it seems. As I understand it bear markets are characterised by high investor optimism giving way to widespread investor pessimism and fear, often fuelled by weakened demand and bad news items. Well, there's been plenty of that again this week. And political leaders who seem to be happy to talk in evasive terms about what can or will be done and who look for distracting news elsewhere to deflect away from problems they seem incapable of solving.

As the US Dollar bill says 'In God We Trust'. Some divine inspiration would be quite useful soon I think.

I sometimes like to try to link a blip to a song on a Friday. This week the more than tenuous link for bear markets is to the Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony (you know the tune........it is probably already humming in your mind..........anyhow........ for a bear market........)

"..............
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah

No change, I can change, I can change, I can change
But I'm here in my mould, I am here in my mould
But I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mould, no, no, no, no, no
........................"

Or perhaps more appropriately for the financial markets, as Doris Day once sang "que sera sera, whatever will be, will be". I gather she is releasing a new song soon!



Enjoy the weekend blippers.